Necromorphs
The Necromorphs are the horribly mutated, reanimated corpses of humans, and they serve as the antagonists of Dead Space. These creatures are extremely aggressive, and will attempt to kill any non-necromorph creature on sight. The sole purpose of almost all Necromorphs is to create more bodies to infect, while the role of one particular creature, the Infector, is to infect corpses to make more Necromorphs. Origin First Aegis 7 Incident The DNA patterns covering the surface of the Black and Red Markers are the codes for the Necromorph infection as noted in the logs as a "recombinant life form". According to data logs, the first known Necromorph infection was during the reverse engineering project of the Black Marker subsequently creating the Red Marker, which occurred on Aegis 7 hundreds of years ago by the original Aegis 7 doctors. They had set up the lab on a deserted planet so they could test the Marker and its effects well away from any outposts of human civilization. The Aegis 7 doctors copied and recreated the life form using the DNA patterns listed on the Markers, resulting in the creation of the lifeform. Initially the "recombinant lifeform" existed only in a petri-dish and remained dormant (what exactly the lifeform resembled is unknown). The lifeform didn't react to any of the doctor's tests, and was about to be deemed a failure. However, one day, a doctor did not fully decontaminate himself when entering the lab and a few dead skin cells fell into the Petri dish. As such, the infection by the recombinant lifeform immediately activated and reanimated the dead skin cells. The Red Marker actually inhibited the necrotic flesh testing and it was then that the scientists noticed that it produced an apparent "dead space" field, inhibiting the Necromorph infection from spreading. Soon afterwards, a similar accident similar to the Petri dish incident resulted in the infection of two doctors. They were promptly quarantined, where they soon died and shortly after dying, the two doctors transformed into the very first Necromorphs (one doctor became a Leaper, the other an Infector). When the Leaper pierced a ventilation shaft and promptly began to kill the other doctors, which the Infector then began transforming, the outbreak had commenced. While it is known that all of the doctors on Aegis 7 were killed, very little is detailed on what events transpired after the creatures escaped. A log reveals that, after the initial catastrophe began on Aegis 7, one of the doctors has a "vision" where he has the idea of constructing a pedestal to broaden the signal the Marker is emanating, thereby containing the Necromorph Hive Mind and all infection present on the planet. Since the Marker is found hundreds of years later on its pedestal on the barren surface of the planet, it is suggested that they were successful. There are two unique Necromorphs, the Leviathan and the Slug, both of which are large and grotesque blobs of flesh that utilize their tentacles to attack. How they are created and from what is unknown, but they may be independent organisms or an extreme offshoot of the Brute Necromorph (i.e made from combining several different corpses). There is a low probability that the Necromorph virus is a natural occurrence, as it is attributed to the Black Marker or to the reverse-engineered Red Marker based upon it, though the exact nature of the relationship between the Necromorphs and the Black Marker, and by extension the religion Unitology which was built around the latter, is impossible to determine. Transformation Once infected, the transformation of a dead body into a Necromorph is extremely quick (with certain exceptions such as Leapers), typically happening in a matter of seconds (the transformation actually occurs in exactly 10 seconds, according to the game producers). This transformation is extremely gruesome and disturbing for observers. The body of the Necromorph host is forced into new twisted shapes to fit the function of the newly spawned creature. The actual type of Necromorph created stems entirely on the location and circumstances, as well as the host body's current form. For example, Lurkers are created from any infant human. The bacterium responsible for the infection is also referred to as 'The Corruption' in background logs. All Necromorphs are extremely hardy and capable of surviving in lethal environments no human without appropriate protection could even venture into, such as the vacuum of space and being the main reason that they are reanimated undead organisms and do not need to rely on organs for respiration, and as experience shows, shooting them in the torso, let alone in the head is fruitless. Dismemberment Necromorphs do not suffer from the weaknesses of the bodies they are made from; their bodies need no oxygen to survive, and therefore no blood. Injuries that would kill an ordinary human, particularly the destruction of vital organs or severs lacerations, have little effect on them, and they will never cease an attack no matter how many bullets are fired into them. Countless have died due to not knowing the only true way to kill the Necromorphs: dismemberment. The only way to kill the creatures is to literally rip them to pieces; remove the head, arms, legs, and other appendages until the creature is killed. Dubbed "Strategic Dismemberment" by the Dead Space game team, Strategic Dismemberment is the act of strategically removing the limbs of the creatures. Each creature has its own strategies when it comes to dismemberment: some creatures will simply die after enough limbs have been removed, some creatures will die instantly if a specific limb is cut off, while some creatures will become even more of a threat if shot in the wrong place. Learning how to dismember creatures is mostly done through trial-and-error. However, dismemberment is the only way to stop the reanimated horrors in their tracks and is the best way to survive. Strangely enough, dismembering a Necromorph's head doesn’t render them completely harmless and useless, and are somehow still able to attack you. How this is done is unknown, but it could be the Hive Mind and its telepathic powers, or some form of internal body sensor, or the Necromorphs have multiple eyes. It is also unknown how the bodies function without a brain. It could be that Necromorphs develop some kind of decentralized nervous system, and have some kind of brain-like structure elsewhere in their body (possibly several of them, in the case of the Divider Necromorph). This would explain why dismemberment is required to subdue them, as their brain has been relocated to their specific limbs. The Origin of Dividers is unknown, and appear to be the reincarnation of a dismembered body. Slashers can be killed with one shot with the Plasma cutter if shot in the right place. Trivia *The Necromorph creature designs were partly inspired by the movie The Thing. * The Necromorphs were also partially based off the creatures of the Doom series. *Interestingly enough the standard way a Necromorph kills its victims is the exact same way to kill it, by dismemberment and mutilation. This is strange mainly because Infectors don't infect corpses with missing limbs. However, it`s possible that Infectors are simply seeking most functional corpses when player is in vicinity, in order to create protectors for themselves. Some of the Necromorphs would actually require pre-dismembered corpses to be constructed. (And a lot more time, too.) *The Necromorphs do not attack those under the influence of the Markers, as showed in the comics Natalia Deshyanov was not attacked by the Nercromorphs as she was making her way to the rover bay, only observed. *As further inspiration for the design of the Necromorphs the design team studied images of car accident victims. *In an episode of the HBO series 'True Blood,' the character Hoyt's mother can be seen flinging a Wii remote fighting what appears to be a Dead Space Extraction Necromorph. Further examination reveals this was from the E3 2009 demo, seeing as said episode aired well before the game had been released. *As stated above, the Necromorphs should be "completely ripped apart", but oddly enough, ripping off both of their arms is an insta-kill.